Summer travel plans for many have been thrown into chaos today, as an ominous star appeared on Nanjing residents’ travel codes. It’s got people wondering whether they should risk travel, and if they do, will they be able to come back?
This morning, 28 June, Nanjingers awoke to note the addition to their travel code, which comes in the form of a starred message under the green code itself.
An English translation of the message goes, “[Star] indicates there are medium or high-risk areas in the city at present; it does not mean that the user has actually visited these medium or high-risk areas”.
The medium-risk area in question has come about after two COVID positive cases were detected in the past few days, related to a part of Longchi Subdistrict of northerly Luhe District.
At present, four close contacts, all of whom are family members of those tested positive, have been found to have abnormal NAT results, reports Nanjing Daily.
For the information of our readers, those four individuals had in the past few days travelled to the aforementioned Longchi Subdistrict, Luhe District; Rehe Nan Lu, Gulou District; Jiangwangmiao Subdistrict, Xuanwu District; Changfu Subdistrict, Qinhuai District; Longpan Zhong Lu, Xuanwu District; Nanjing South Railway Station; Xiongzhou Station (Line S8) to Shangyuanmen Station (Line 3), Luhe Gymnasium, Luhe District; and Chaotian Subdistrict, Luhe District.
The Nanjinger advises readers who have been to these areas in the past few days to keep an eye on their health codes and look out for their NAT results.
Speaking of which, in addition to the disruption to travel plans, the developments have also spurred Nanjing’s authorities back into action on the testing front. After up to 3 test-free weeks, many Nanjingers were quickly notified this morning of the necessity to be tested today.
While the starred code does not rule out leaving Nanjing, it has the potential to make life very difficult for many. Largely, it depends on the destination. Rumours started quickly this morning of some cities already imposing a “7+7” quarantine on people incoming from Nanjing.
Elsewhere, an insider at Nanjing Lukou International Airport spoke with The Nanjinger, saying, “A lot of flights will be affected, but not all”.
On the face of it, perhaps not much has changed. Leaving the city of Nanjing still carries the risk that the situation may flare up while you are away. And that possibility shall remain for still quite some time to come. But for many who have not been anywhere in 2 and a half years, it’s a chance they are willing to take.
